Dairy

On June 23, the winning team of the 2009 National 4-H Dairy Cattle Judging Contest headed to Scotland to compete in an international judging event. The team brought Maryland its 29th national victory. The team consists of Chelsea Davis, Cecil County; Emily Gill, Harford County; Morgan Meisenheimer, Howard County; and Ariel Taxdal, Harford County. The program is coordinated by Kiera Finucane, Animal and Avian Sciences, and this year's team was coached by Loretta Wright, a longtime supporter of dairy and Maryland 4-H, from Carroll County.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Chambersburg FFA won big at the Pennsylvania State FFA Contest on June 10 to 12 at Penn State University at University Park. The Dairy Judging team placed first overall. The team consisted of Melinda Cordell (first place), Jesse Kline (second place), Dakota Hampton (third place), Jared McIntire (15th place) and Joe Hawbaker (18th place.) The team judged six cow classes, presented two oral reasons classes, judged a pedigree class, linear evaluation of five cattle, and took a dairy cattle management test.

MERCERSBURG, Pa. - A senior at James Buchanan High School is FFA's best dairy cattle judge in the nation. Logan Horst, 17, who was in his first big national competition, beat out 183 other FFA students to win the crown recently at 79th National FFA Convention in Indianapolis, Ind. James Buchanan's dairy judging team did well, too. Horst and three other team members - Zachary Meyers, Tobin Stuff and Jacob Brake - won fifth place among 46...

Maryland health officials say laboratory tests have confirmed the presence of the illness-causing bacteria, Campylobacter jejuni, in two unopened samples purchased from the Family Cow farm in Chambersburg The number of people in Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia and New Jersey stricken with illness after consuming raw, unpasteurized milk from the same farm has risen to 37, the Pennsylvania Department of Health confirmed Thursday. Pennsylvania officials said their tests for bacteria in samples had not yet yielded results.

Heather Hartung, Tyler Funk, Kelsey Meyers and Chevy Martin placed first as a team in the dairy judging contest recently at the Eastern States Exposition in Springfield, Mass. They completed a team problem, a multiple-choice test and a sire selection problem, and judged six classes of dairy animals. They also presented a set of oral reasons. Individually, Martin placed second, Funk placed fifth, Hartung placed eighth and Meyers placed 10th. The team was also awarded milk bottles for placing as the high team in Holsteins.

By RICHARD F. BELISLE / Staff Writer, Waynesboro by: RICHARD T. MEAGHER / staff photographer MERCERSBURG, Pa. - The cows at Cove Mountain Farm graze all day in pastures of lush green grass creating a pastoral scene that belies a high-tech dairy management system. --cont. from news page -- At Cove Mountain there are no giant tractors, acres of row crops or cows being milked three times a day in factory barns like most modern, conventional dairy farms.

Editorial - New milk plan a must A national milk-pricing system set up during the Great Depression no longer makes any sense. On that we agree with a federal judge, whose ruling voided it last Wednesday. But at least it was a system, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture needs to get cracking on a replacement that will pass court scrutiny. In his ruling, U.S. District Judge David Doty said the old pricing system wasn't based on any current reality. In brief, it held that the farther a dairy farm is located from Eau Claire, Wisconsin, the higher-priced its milk would be. Eau Claire was chosen because it was then the nation's top dairy-producing region, and was deemed to have an advantage over other areas, which needed to transport milk longer distances to market.

Farmers have always been under the thumb of the dreaded “middle man,” the processors who buy farm products at low prices and sell to supermarkets (and eventually consumers) at considerable markup. So we are pleased on two fronts to see that the former Good Humor-Breyers ice cream plant in Hagerstown, which was operated by Unilever Corp., will be operating again. Valley Pride LLC and Shenandoah Family Farms Cooperative will, according to vice president Randy Inman, “Fulfill (a)

Carol DeBaugh is used to working on the family's dairy farm near Boonsboro. The second of Matt and Tammy DeBaugh's children, she has long been involved with 4-H and FFA at Boonsboro High School, where she will be a senior when classes resume. Now the 17-year-old has a new role as Maryland Dairy Princess. As Washington County Dairy Princess, Carol was one of four regional dairy princesses running for the state title. After other awards such as Miss Congeniality, Best Skit and Best Radio Spot were announced, Carol was awarded a $500 scholarship.

More than 150 people gathered for the 4-H/FFA Dairy Cattle Showmanship competition on Tuesday morning, but not all for the same reason. Mark Schnebly, 34, of Clear Spring was there to help run the event and announce the winners. Schnebly participated in the 4-H dairy club while growing up and coached the county's dairy club judging team. When judge Emily Yeiser judged the cows, following the showmanship judging, Schnebly said: “She's looking for a cow that looks like she'll produce the most milk for the longest time.” That generally translates to good legs, strength and udders, he said.

Two dozen competitors “beefed up” their game Tuesday morning in the 4-H/FFA Dairy Cattle Showmanship judging at the Washington County Ag Expo and Fair. The participants, ranging in age from 8 to 18 years old, took to the show arena by age group - junior, ages 8 to 10; intermediate, 11 to 13; and senior, 14 to 18 - to display their best showmanship and compete for the ultimate title of overall grand champion. They demonstrated their abilities to what started as a small audience but grew to one of more than 100 spectators by the time the contest was in full swing.

June is National Dairy Month, and the Maryland Department of Agriculture encourages Marylanders to celebrate by enjoying healthy and nutritious dairy products this month and all year long. National Dairy Month celebrates the value of milk and dairy products as part of a well-balanced diet for every American, as well as the importance of milk production to the agricultural industry. There are 496 dairy farms in Maryland that accounted for nearly $188 million in sales in 2012, according to the USDA's National Agriculture Statistics Service.

A Chambersburg-area farm involved in a bacteria outbreak last year is the subject of a new warning from the Pennsylvania departments of health and agriculture. Five people who consumed unpasteurized milk from The Family Cow, 3854 Olde Scotland Road, between April 30 and May 10 suffered illnesses confirmed to be related to Campylobacter bacteria, according to a news release from the state departments issued Wednesday. “Agriculture officials ordered the owners of the farm to stop the sale of all raw milk until further notice,” the news release stated.

Kayla Hartung, 16, of Mercersburg, Pa., was crowned the 2013-14 Franklin County (Pa.) Dairy Princess during the 46th annual pageant held May 17 at the Kauffman (Pa.) Ruritan Community Center. The pageant was sponsored by the Franklin County Dairy Promotion Committee. The daughter of Robert and Debbie Hartung, Kayla is a junior at James Buchanan High School. She will be promoting Franklin County's dairy industry for the coming year and will represent Franklin County at the state pageant in September.

The school system's got milk - from low-fat to fat and lactose free - in a variety of flavors. Chocolate is the favorite milk flavor of students in Washington County Public Schools, followed by vanilla, according to the school system's Food and Nutrition Services Supervisor Jeff Proulx. Washington County Board of Education members, who were about to vote on a contract for a milk supplier, asked Proulx about the vanilla flavoring and the sugar in flavored milk during a May 7 school board meeting.

The Maryland Dairy Industry Association will honor farms across the state as part of a statewide dairy farm beautification program. This is the fifth year for the Maryland Dairy of Distinction program. So far, 25 dairy farms have received the honor. Farms nominated for the Dairy of Distinction Award will be judged during spring and summer. Winners will be announced at the February 2014 Maryland Dairy Convention. All Maryland dairy producers are invited to submit an application for the award.